Osmel Almaguer, a Cuban immigrant in Brazil, shares in his diary how financial education has transformed his economic life after arriving with debts. He highlights the need to generate extra income and resist temptations to improve financial health. In his experience as a butcher and delivery worker, he emphasizes discipline as key to progress.
Osmel Almaguer, in his diary entry published on Havana Times, reflects on cultural differences in money management between Cuba and Brazil. In Cuba, he describes a culture of impulsive spending illustrated by the phrase “throw the house out the window,” where people spend everything on parties and fun, a habit reinforced in the 1990s during the economic crisis to “steal moments from life.”
Upon arriving in Brazil with his family, they faced debts that took two years to pay off. Almaguer works as a butcher and, to grow economically, chose extra hours. He bought an electric bicycle for 3,000 reais, initially a liability, which now generates income through deliveries, turning it into an asset.
“Discipline to maximize income and not spend more than necessary makes a radical difference,” he writes. He recommends paying debts, not spending all earnings, and seeking extra income—principles of financial education he first learned in Cuba via a free WhatsApp course.
He acknowledges system temptations: colorful ads, delicious foods, large TVs, brand sneakers, and hotel weekends. Yet, he insists the system is designed to keep the majority at the bottom, in debt. As a poor person, he saves part of his salary plus delivery earnings for an emergency fund and a small business.
Deliveries, he says, are relaxing after eight hours of work, with fresh air and city scenery benefiting health, while also serving a social function by helping others stay home. “These are the things a Cuban learns upon arriving in capitalism,” he concludes.
